Once Upon A Lifetime
by LukaCrazy
Summary: Abby ponders fate and how it has affected her life....with Luka


TITLE: Once Upon a Lifetime  
AUTHOR: Lisa [LukaCrazy]  
  
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to their rightful owners :)   
  
SUMMARY: Short Abby POV fic about how fate has affected her life by bringing her together with Luka  
SPOILERS: A vague reference to Season 7   
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My first real start-to-finish fanfic attempt. Feedback appreciated. Thank you to all who have posted and emailed me feedback and encouragement...:):) It means alot!  
  
  
  
  
Once Upon a Lifetime  
  
Long ago and far away, in a place I barely knew existed, a war raged on. There was a man there about whom I knew nothing. He was an aspiring doctor; a Croatian in Vukovar who had a wife and two children...family and friends. He had a life, one that couldn't possibly be more detached from my own.   
  
He knew nothing of me. Didn't know that I lived and breathed, didn't know the tormented way in which I grew up. And he didn't know how I turned to the bottle time and time again.   
  
I was in my early twenties, eagerly discovering the many ways in which alcohol could numb the pain. It was no wonder I was oblivious to the current events of the world at that time. Had someone told me then, that the war going on in this small country would affect my life in years to come, I would have handed them my bottle and said "Here, have some more..."  
  
I try to follow the trail, however obscure it might be. Who was the person who fired that shell? Did he ever wonder or even care that the lives he took that day, and the loved ones they would leave behind, could possibly affect the life of a girl in America ten years down the road? I doubt it.   
  
But still, that's what happened.  
  
It must take a super human strength to overcome a loss so great. It's a strength I will never know...but he has enough for both of us, and I've learned over time to draw my strength from him. It was there for the taking all the while - I just never saw it. And one day, he made me see it...and I have never been the same since.   
  
Whatever the reason, I cannot begin to guess. My questions are many and will probably remain unanswered for all time. This man was brought into my life as an indirect result of sheer tragedy, yet his presence has helped me in ways I cannot begin to describe. Why was his loss my gain? Why did a good woman and two children have to die in order for me to find the only person on this earth who has ever made me feel whole?   
  
I've asked him these questions more than once, looking to hear a different response each time. But his answer to me is always the same. He says that our lifetimes crossed paths at a time when we both needed what the other had to give. Fate can be cruel but it is also kind.   
  
It makes me wonder, and I stand in awe of this mystery that holds the answers to all the questions. The only other time I've felt that sense of awe was at the birth of our daughter - a chance for me to assist God in a miracle. It was my second chance, and after she was born I felt a sense of peace...forgiveness within myself for earlier choices. He had forgiven me from the moment I told him, his understanding demeanor trying to convince me to forgive myself. I was finally convinced at 6:02 a.m. on a cold January morning after 20 hours of labor. A labor of love.  
  
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A baby cries. "Mommy's coming, sweetie." Abby makes her way to the nursery, bottle in hand, and smiles at the infant trying to say that she is hungry. She scoops up her daughter, planting kisses on her forehead.   
  
On her way to the kitchen she passes the fireplace, catching sight of the picture sitting on the mantle. Abby pauses for a moment, picking up the gold-rimmed framed portrait of her family. She and Luka smile happily, their daughter nestled in Abby's arms. Her pretty pink dress a sharp contrast against the swirling blue background.   
  
There are times when she swears she can see Danijela's image within those swirls, a ghostly image smiling down at the new family Luka has become a part of. She often wished she could know Danijela in some way - to know the kind of woman she was that helped make Luka the kind of man he turned out to be. The man she had left to Abby, however unintentional the gesture.   
  
Abby wanted to tell Danijela what it meant to have Luka in her life, to let her know that he was being taken care of and being loved. She could only hope that she knew.   
  
Seeing Danijela's peaceful soul in the swirl of the picture's background, Abby whispers a soft "thank you" before returning the picture of four smiling faces to its place on the mantle...   
  
The End 


End file.
